Homemade Cheddar Cheese Crackers

I made these crackers out of boredom and my love of all things cheesy. I see homemade crackers all over the blogosphere but this was my first time making them. I was browsing through blogs this past Sunday and within 20 minutes of me seeing the cracker recipe I got to work on making them. The recipe comes together pretty quickly as the whole process is similar to making shortbread cookies. After they baked I gave them 5 minutes to cool and started to indulge. After eating one...two...maybe three...whatever, whose counting..I came to the conclusion that these were really tasty but a little to cheesy for my taste. I know your looking like me as if I'm crazy..but yea these were a little to cheesy for cheese crackers. It tasted like the little bit of cheese that runs out of your grilled cheese sandwich and gets fried in the pan by itself. I will definitely make again and just cut down on the cheese. I have to note that my sister thought they were perfect as is but she's a extreme cheese lover. Now the only way for you to form an opinion would be for you to make these yourself so get to baking!

Cheddar Cheese Crackers

makes 28

1/ 2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/8 tsp or pinch cayenne pepper

8oz cheddar cheese, finely shredded

1 cup unbleached flour

- Prepare a large sheet pan with cooking spray or with parchment paper and set to the side.

- In bowl of stand mixer combine butter, salt, and peppers until well mixed.

- Add in flour and cheese, mix on medium until well combined.

- Place mixture in plastic wrap and roll into a log shape.

- Place log in refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes.

- In the mean time heat oven to 350 degrees.

- After 30 minutes remove dough from the refrigerator and cut into slices.

- Slices should be cut 1/4 inch thick but I cut mine a little thinner for more crispiness

- Place slices on sheet pan and bake until crisp and golden.

- Remove from oven, cool and enjoy.

vegetablematter.blogspot.com via Epicurious.com

Trader Joes Reduced Guilt Kettle Chips

I just want to say that no one and I mean no one loves uber crunchy kettle cooked chips more than me! Since I was in grade school I "nommed"away at salty Deli brand chips and as all the major snack food manufacturers jumped on the kettle cooked chip wagon I decided it was my duty as an American citizen to try out every last kind I could get my hands on. Most left me dissapointed and some bamboozled me, like the UTZ brand "Grandma UTZ" chips that are fried in LARD!!!  Oh the horror...but anyway I do have some faves which include the Archer Farms varieties at Target and UTZ Natural Kettle chips. My problem with kettle chips is the grease and anyone thats eats them knows that you can moisturize your body with your fingers after dipping into a bag. My brother has seen me going hard trying to cut calories so I guess he felt sorry for me and decided to pitch in on my efforts and buy some snacks for me and my sister. My favorite out of the numerous snacks that he hauled in was the reduced guilt kettle cooked chips from TJ's. The package boast that their chips have "33% less fat than regular potato chips." I havent played inspector gadget and went about conducting actual research but I will continue eating these chips when I need a snack for a few simple reasons:

- My hands come out clean everytime
- I can recognize every single ingredient on the package...potatoes, sunflower oil, salt...THATS IT!
- No preservatives and no artificial stuff

You know what time it is people...make the switch.